Unconquerable Sun by Kate Elliott

“The battered fleet returned to Molossia System without fanfare or announcement. Military personnel striding across the main concourse of Naval Command Orbital Station Yanshi slowed their steps as they looked up. One by one ships slid into view across the threshold of a beacon’s aura. The beacon itself was so distant it was no more than a pinprick of light as viewed by the naked eye, so the arriving ships were visible from the station only because their images were being superimposed on the concourse’s transparent shell.”

Unconquerable Sun by Kate Elliott

Unconquerable Sun by Kate Elliott is an absolute masterpiece. I love space opera, but I have found some books promise a big world with a big cast of characters only to end up feeling kind of small. Kate Elliott wrote the space opera I have always wanted to read, and it was perfection. 

I first came across Kate Elliott a few years ago, luckily finding her entire Crown of Stars series in a used bookstore. I snatched them up and loved the first two. Back then I put a lot of space between books in a series, so I haven’t had the chance to finish yet, but they are really high on my list. I read her Spiritwalker trilogy last year which is one of my favorite trilogies of all time. And her novella, Servant Mage was completely wonderful. To say I have become obsessed with Kate Elliott is an understatement. I have since bought all of her books and am slowly (because I can’t bear the thought of running out) working my way through them. 

Unconquerable Sun shifts from a few point of views. First is Princess Sun, heir to the Chaonia throne. Sun’s mother, the queen-marshal, isn’t making things easy for her. Despite Sun’s continued success in battles, she isn’t given the duties or responsibilities she wants. When she is sent on a tour that she knows is meant to get rid of her and tragedy strikes her and her companions, Sun’s life becomes so much bigger than she ever anticipated. 

Then we meet the wily Persephone, a cadet studying transportation engineering, who has run away from her family and their name to carve out her own name for herself. Thinking she is hidden from her parents, having not heard from them in years, she is in for a big shock when her parents have her pulled from the academy, forced to return home. 

And lastly, we meet Apama, a lancer pilot who is given odd orders to report to a ship in a place no one is usually transferred to. 

As each character’s life begins to change, their lives begin to intersect and the story unfolds in a really epic, fantastic way. This book is so hard for me to properly review because there is so much going on, and the world is so big. It really is everything I have been wanting in a space opera. I am so in love with Sun, Persephone and Apama along with all the wonderful characters that you meet. There is tension at the political level and personal level; the story is layered with brilliant storylines that connect and spin around each other like planets moving through star systems. 

I am eagerly awaiting the sequel to this one. I am glad I waited a little to read this so I don’t have to wait too long for the next book. I just started The Keeper’s Six by Kate Elliott, and it’s already riveting. She is not an author you want to miss.